200 join Ag Outlook Forum - Renewable energy a hot topic at the Visalia event. |
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More than 200 participants in this year's 2006 Spring Ag Outlook Forum in Visalia heard speakers explain why the central San Joaquin Valley — with its thousands of cows and sunny days — is well poised to take advantage of renewable energy. After traveling hundreds of miles to the event sponsored by the California Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, at least some of them were nursing high gasoline bills. That subject, skyrocketing gas prices, was addressed by the opening speaker, Bill Jones, chairman of the board and founder of Pacific Ethanol. "The opportunity for renewables is as great today as it has ever been," Jones said, adding that he first was interested in production of ethanol as far back as the 1970s. "But the timing wasn't right." Jones is the founder of Pacific Ethanol, which will produce the additive that proponents say makes for a cleaner-burning fuel. Plans call for five Pacific Ethanol plants, including one in Madera now being developed. The presence of a huge dairy industry in the Valley will be a factor in Pacific Ethanol's success, Jones said, because the company can buy corn, mostly from the Midwest, extract ethanol and then sell what is left — the "wet distillers grain" — to dairy operators for nutritious feed to cattle. Jones said 10% to 15% of corn purchased by the company will come from California. Demand for ethanol increased significantly when California and some other states banned MTBE as an additive. Just as cows bring more corn to the Valley, they also bring more manure, and that was a topic for Carl Morris, general manager and chief operating officer for Joseph Gallo Farms in Atwater. Morris talked of the dairy's installation of a methane digester, powered by manure, that provides electricity for making cheese and uses plant waste water to enhance methane production. He closed his presentation with a slide reading, "Making electricity out of cow manure sure beats paying the utility." Morris said the biodigester will have about a four-year payback, and plans are in the works to add a second digester. One challenge for adding a digester at most dairies is what to do with excess power generated. Morris suggests dairy operators may want to pool resources "with a neighbor" because rewards are not that great for selling power back to utility power grids. Mark Stout, a solar energy consultant with Unlimited Energy of Fresno, talked of a wide range of renewable energy including solar, wind, biomass and geothermal. "There's considerable room for growth in biomass as a fuel because of ag waste," Stout said, adding that a challenge is that biomass plants are fueled largely by urban waste coming into the Valley. The amount of farm waste is certain to increase as more burning bans are implemented. While potential for use of solar energy is great for the Valley because of its sunny days, Stout said, it is not so good for use of wind, except in the Tehachapi area. Stout said farmers can get an annual payment of about $7,000 and continue farming while putting wind turbines on their land to generate electricity. Each turbine takes up about a fourth of an acre of land. He pointed out that state and federal incentives are made available this year for solar installations on homes and businesses. Just as methane digesters, solar installations and wind turbines have a payback period, transitioning from conventional to organic farms also comes with a payback time, said Gerald Davis, an agronomist with Grimmway Farms in Bakersfield. Davis talked of the three-year transition needed from conventional farming to become certified organic. "Most growers fallow the land during that time," he said. "It's a long-term investment." He said he believes it may be closer to five to 10 years "before you get the payback" that can come after traces of pesticides in soil abate and the soil's organic and carbon content increases. Consumer demand has boosted the increase in organic foods by 20% annually in the United States since the early 1990s. Still, organics remain a small part of total U.S. food sales, Davis said — about 2%. Davis said about 25% of Grimmway's acreage has organic crops that include carrots, potatoes, onions, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and melons. The reporter can be reached at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or (559) 441-6364. Click here to view Mark Stout's presentation (Acrobat PDF format) to the Ag Outlook Forum. |
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